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From the President
ARE WE ORGANISED
ENOUGH TO HELP OTHERS?
Graham Dooley – AWA President
water DECEMBER 2014
The Millennium Drought may be over in the eastern
states of Australia, but it seems to be a permanent
state of affairs in the Perth region of Western
Australia. All states and territories and their water
utilities responded to this momentous drought
in various ways. The Commonwealth and states
and territories also responded with the National
Water Initiative (2004) and the Murray-Darling
Basin Plan (2012) – two transformations that were
overwhelmingly successful and beneficial.
An almost identical set of drought-induced
challenges is currently facing California and
several other states in the United States.
Meanwhile, China, India and Egypt have looked
closely at Australia to see how we transformed the
Murray-Darling. How exactly did we do that? We
got some drought responses right, but were pretty
sub-optimal with some of the things we did and
the money we spent in some places.
Now our success over the decade of the
Millennium Drought is catching the attention
of Ministers, Governors, Presidents and leaders
of many countries. The Governor of California,
in particular, wants to learn from us.
Three initiatives to address this issue are
being undertaken by AWA:
1. A delegation of experienced and
knowledgeable water industry representatives
is heading to California in December 2014 to
perform a “show and tell” to the Governor and
his people under the ‘G’Day USA’ banner, but
with an AWA sub-title;
2. AWA is seeking to create and support, at
the instigation of the Australian Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), an
Australian Water Centre to be the gateway
for all our Aussie water knowhow for the rest
of the world to access. With the support of
Government funding the original concept of
waterAUSTRALIA will be given new momentum
and the resources to succeed;
3. New B2B initiatives are being rolled out by AWA
under Pilllar 3 (Industry Development), including
market access and innovation programs for
the benefit of AWA Corporate and Individual
Members. We have multiple initiatives being
rolled out over the next few months.
Requests such as the one from California – and
initiatives like that from DFAT – need to generate
work for our people, not just for one or two
distinguished individuals but a broad cross-
section of our consultants, contractors, educators,
researchers, centres of knowledge and suppliers.
Our difficulties in getting waterAUSTRALIA
up and running to the degree to which a number
of our industry leaders aspired has been a
personal disappointment for me over recent years.
However, I think the time is right for the whole
sector (companies, utilities, NGOs, Government
bodies of all forms) to create an organisation
that is both substantial and sustainable – one
the whole sector can buy into and be proud of.
Let’s get it right this time!
On a personal note, I’d like to wish all
our members, staff and attendees at AWA
events a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
Ozwater
FP